1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of content and/or data management over a network. More particularly, the present invention is related in one exemplary aspect to apparatus and methods for providing programming content and/or data to a CPE via a substantially centralized media bridge in which is capable of communication with a portable media device.
2. Description of Related Technology
Recent advances in digital information processing and technology have made a whole range of services and functions available for delivery to consumers at their premises for very reasonable prices or subscription fees. These services and functions include digital content or programming (movies, etc.), digital video-on-demand (VOD), personal video recorder (PVR) and networked PVR (nPVR), Internet Protocol television (IPTV), digital media playback and recording, as well high speed Internet access and IP-based telephony (e.g., VoIP). Other services available to network users include access to, and recording of, digital music (e.g., MP3 files), as well local area networking (including wire-line and wireless local area networks) for distributing these services throughout the user's premises, and beyond. Currently, many of these services are provided and delivered to the user via a wide variety of different equipment environments including, inter alia, cable modems, Wi-Fi™ hubs, Ethernet hubs, gateways, switches and routers, computers, servers, cable or satellite networks and associated set-top boxes, and PSTNs.
Recent advances in consumer electronics have also led to the widespread introduction of a variety of portable media devices (PMDs) such as, inter alia, portable digital music devices such as the well known Apple iPod™ and other so-called “MP3 players”, cellular telephones/smart phones, handheld computers, and personal digital assistants (PDA), which allow users to store and playback audio and video files. Various digital audio and video formats are utilized by PMDs. For example, MP3 players store a number of digitized audio files in the form of MP3 files which are then made accessible to the user. Additionally, the services associated with such technology are typically provided by multiple vendors including e.g., a cable service provider (MSO), cellular service provider (CSP), wireless service provider (WSP), VoIP service provider, music download service, Internet service provider (ISP), PSTN telephone service, etc.
The myriad of services, equipment, data formats and providers can easily create confusion for a user, as often the equipment or services may not interoperate with one another, thus reducing the overall utility provided to the user, and increasing their frustration level.
Accordingly, playback of audio and video files from a PMD is often limited to playback via the device itself. In other words, a user may only select audio and video files from a PMD to be played back to the user via the device. Thus, if a user stores video content, the user is limited to viewing the content on a display associated with the PMD. Although, certain apparatus have been recently developed to extend the playback functionality of audio and video files on a PMD, these apparatus fail to provide a user with the ability to convert audio and video files stored on a PMD into a format suitable for playback on a second apparatus. Likewise, current apparatus fail to provide users with the ability to move content stored on a device associated with a second device to a PMD while also obeying any restrictions on copying or distributing the content.
Furthermore, content conditional access (CA) paradigms currently in use are quite restricted, and not generally extensible beyond the user's cable or satellite set-top box. So, for example, the user would be prohibited from transferring streamed or downloaded content to their Wi-Fi enabled laptop or PC, since proper conditional access support (e.g., that associated with their host cable or satellite network) does not exist in these devices.
Therefore, improved apparatus and methods for distributing digital services between a user premises and PMD are needed. Such improved apparatus and services would ideally provide users with the ability to access and playback content, as well as optionally control the PMD, from a second user device. For example, the user or subscriber would be provided with a conversion apparatus wherein media (whether personal in nature, data files, protected video content, or otherwise) from a PMD in communication therewith would be easily and transparently available to a second user device and subsequently any other media devices in communication with the second user device, subject to any authentication or other content protection or distribution restrictions.
Such unified access would also ideally allow for remote, centralized management and configuration, as well as ability to receive content from the user's premises devices at the PMD.